The present invention relates to a laminating device and method, and more particularly, a laminating device and method for laminating a one sided pressure sensitive adhesive coated barrier film to a blister pack and cutting the laminated barrier film.
Present laminating devices are of a continuous operating nature usually done by large laminating, folding, feeding and cutting machines. However, such activity is done at the point of manufacture and is only feasible on a large scale continuous basis. Thus, the ease and convenience of blister pack packaging has not been available to small businesses such as drug stores, hardware stores, sporting good stores and the like which require an inexpensive, compact device for on premise use.
Several attempts have been made to meet the needs of small businesses without recourse to specialized machinery. These attempts have included blister packaging by hand and by the use of a hand operated device, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,856,144, and 4,002,009, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Consequently to date, small businesses have only been provided with two alternatives. They could either apply a pressure sensitive adhesive by hand to a blister pack, or they could place a blister pack on a device and slide it through the device in contact with an adhesive, whereby the adhesive was applied to the blister pack. Both are cumbersome and inefficient in meeting such varying business needs from occasional blister packaging to semi-continuous blister packaging. Thus, there is a need for a device which can easily be used to package a few items or effectively and efficiently used to package a multitute of items on a semi-continuous basis.
The prior art as described above has not yet recognized a need for a blister pack laminating device and method which is compact, easily operated by either hand, requires no external energy source, and is effectively and efficiently used for packaging relatively few items or for packaging items on a semi-continuous basis. Finally, notwithstanding the simplicity of construction and compactness, the device must be adaptable to laminate a multitude of items which may require lamination of different sized and shaped blister packs.